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Standards of separation: while you're IFR, controllers guarantee certain distances from stationary objects or other flying machines--unless you step in.

Article Excerpt
Many complex job descriptions can be distilled down to a single sentence. Firefighters save lives and property from fire. Doctors use medicine and technology to heal illness and injury. Air traffic controllers separate airplanes.

That's ATC's job description with all the fat trimmed off. The Diles of regulations, letters of agreement, and operating procedures all revolve around controllers keeping the airplanes on their frequencies away from each other, from obstacles, and from other people's airspace.

Personal Space

Aircraft on IFR flight plans crown the list of an air traffic controller's priorities. These pilots are relying on ATC to separate them from hazards, since, by definition, they're not expected to be in visual flight conditions. The minimum required radar separation between two IFR aircraft is three miles of horizontal separation or 1000 feet of vertical separation.

One way to visualize it is to imagine an enormous cylinder surrounding your aircraft. It extends from 500 feet above your headset to 500 feet below your seat cushion, and extends one-and-a-half miles off your wingtips, nose, and tail, giving it a diameter of three miles. Now imagine every other IFR aircraft around you is also tucked inside a cylinder just like yours. Barring certain conditions, ATC cannot allow your cylinder to intersect another IFR aircraft's cylinder. Think of it as your IFR "personal space."

Picture yourself flying along an airway at 6000 feet. ATC issues a traffic call of a regional jet ahead and below you at 5000, opposite direction. Your airspace extends 500 feet below your...

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